Ava DuVernay Earns Her Way Into the History Books - First Black Woman Director to Be Nominated for a Golden Globe Award

Here they are – the nominees for the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, which were announced this morning from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Kate Beckinsale, Peter Krause, Paula Patton, and Jeremy Piven joined Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) President Theo Kingma for the announcement.

Nominations were announced in 25 categories.

Of note, with regards to this blog’s interests, “Selma” picked up a healthy 4 nominations – Best Picture, Drama; Best Actor, Drama (David Oyelowo); Best Director (Ava DuVernay); and Best Original Song, Motion Picture (“Glory”). It’s worth noting that Golden Globe motion picture nominees historically foretell what the Oscar nominees will be; not that they are always 100% accurate, but there’s a very good chance that most of the names you see here will carry over to the announcements scheduled to be made on January 15, 2015. So, despite the SAG Awards absence (the film wasn’t completed in time to meet the submission deadline), it’s set up here nicely for some recognition at the granddaddy of all ceremonies.

I should note that, with her nomination, Ava DuVernay makes history, becoming the first black woman director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director in the Motion Picture category. She’s on her way to doing the same, when the Oscar nominees are announced next month. Previous Golden Globe nominees of African descent in this category include Steve McQueen for “12 Years a Slave,” and Spike Lee for “Do the Right Thing.” It’s painfully incredible that between the years of 1990 to 2014 (24 looooong years), there wasn’t a single black director (male or female) nominated for Best Director in the Motion Picture category!

Also of note, and somewhat unexpectedly, Quvenzhane Wallis picked up a nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy/Musical. The competition in that category is rough, with veterans like Julianne Moore and Helen Mirren also nominated, as well as Amy Adams and Emily Blunt.

It looks like Viola Davis has effectively knocked Kerry Washington out of the Best Actress in a TV series, Drama category (she was also nominated for a SAG Award). I say that because, before “How to Get Away With Murder” this season, in recent years, Kerry Washington was the lone black actress nominee in this category, although she never won. Apparently, there can only be one at a time, and it’s Viola’s time it seems.

And finally, Don Cheadle picks up another Golden Globe nomination for his performance in “House of Lies,” and Uzo Aduba, who is also a SAG nominee, is now also a Golden Globe nominee, for her performance in “Orange is the New Black.”